Hi Laura, Every state has laws in effect regarding payoffs and funds. I do not know what those timeframes would be in your case. You can look on your state's website to see what the laws express and can also see where complaints can be sent to your state if the lender is out of compliance with those state laws (and if you are forced to go that route, you might want to send a copy of that letter to senior management at NOVAD). Again, I don't know the exact timeframe that lenders must refund excess overpayments on loan payoffs, but I believe it can take up to 45 days to reach the borrowers. If you believe that the lender is not acting in good faith or is violating the law, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also accepts consumer complaints on a federal level when lenders do not act in accordance with Federal Finance Laws and you can start that on their website at https://consumerfinance.gov. It would be so much easier if NOVAD would just respond and let you know what was going on and I honestly do not know why they don't, but I hope you receive your refund soon.

Hello Rebecca, They denied you for loss mitigation because the house still has equity. In other words, there is no loss. Reverse mortgage heirs have the right to repay a loan at the amount owed or 95% of the current market value of the property if the home is worth less than the amount owed and that would create a loss to the lender, but you have that right under the terms of the loan. In your case, because the property is worth more than the amount owed on the loan, they will require the loan be paid in full and therefore there is no loss mitigation required. As an heir, you have several options at this point. You can keep the home, sell the home or walk away but since the home has equity, I certainly would not recommend that you walk away. If you want to keep the home, you will need to repay the existing lien with cash you have available to you or with a new loan. The reverse mortgage loan is to be now due and payable, and the lender will soon be looking for you to tell them how you intend to repay the loan (either by selling the house, with funds available to you or with a new loan in your name). Absent a viable plan to repay the loan, the lender would sooner or later begin a foreclosure action, so you do not want to wait too long to determine what you want to do. Your second choice is to sell the home. If you chose this option, you would sell the home and repay the loan with the sale proceeds. In this case, you would list the home for sale and provide the listing information to the lender and request that they give you time to sell the home. If the listed price was reasonable and you were diligent in your efforts to sell, you should have no problems with the lender. When the property sold and the sale closed, the closing agent would obtain a Beneficiary's Demand statement from the lender and repay the liens/loans on the property then forward remaining proceeds (minus your costs) to you at that time. If you decided that there really was no equity left in the home or that there was no loss, but there also was not sufficient equity above and beyond the amount owed to make it worth your while to sell the property (i.e. the property was worth $100,000 and the amount owed was $99,000), you could decide to walk away and let the lender take the property or could participate with the lender in a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure to make the transaction occur faster. Either way, the lender cannot seek additional funds from your mom or her estate or from you at any time and there are no bad consequences to you at any time (it never affects your credit, etc.) if you choose to do so. If the amount owed is such that there is no loss but would not make a sale worth your time and payment of commissions and costs, etc., you can choose to remove all your mom's personal belongings and just let the lender take the home and be done with it. You should try to act as quickly as possible regardless of the direction you choose at this time. The clock is ticking and the last thing you want to do is wait until the lender starts a foreclosure and then you are forced to act in haste because the time in running out.

Hello Denise, The lender must first take several steps to determine if they can even accept a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure. Firstly, you must hold title in order to sign a Deed to someone else. As the heir, you may have the right to take title but do you have the title in your name now with the ability to Deed the home to the lender? Next, the lender must determine that there are no personal possessions left in property and that the property is "broom clean". There can be no liens or other mortgages on title. If the lender accepted your Deed with other liens on title, they would also inherit those liens while those liens would be removed in a foreclosure action unless the creditors stepped in to protect their position by paying the reverse mortgage lender off and taking the property themselves (which is almost unheard of). These things can take months or perhaps longer. Sometimes they are never completed and the property is required to go through the foreclosure process. The best thing to do is to maintain contact with the lender to keep the communication open.

Hello Bobbie, As the heir to the estate, your mom should be able to pay off the loan now. I would suggest that you have your attorney contact the lender and request a Beneficiary's Demand for payment in full.

Hello Randy,If you do nothing, the lender will foreclose and take the property. That would resolve any issues with the home and the reverse mortgage because the reverse mortgage is a non-recourse loan which means the only security the lender has is the property. However, I could not begin to advise you regarding a probate court notice or its implications. That is a legal matter, and I would suggest that you contact an estate attorney to determine what must be done and what possible liability you may have (or if there is none and it is simply a formality) if you do not attend the probate summons. I do not have that information and am prohibited by licensing law from giving legal advice even if I thought I knew the right answer.

Hello Dee, The loan became sue and payable in December when the borrower no longer lived in the property. It is coming up on 4 months now and will be 6 months by the end of the 60-day notice. I honestly do not know what the status of the foreclosure on the home is, but you can always check the progress and check with an attorney to determine what legal steps the lender must take to remove you from the home if you hold over the time, they have given you. I cannot tell you if you are in a state that allows you to remain for a longer period if you do not vacate within the notice period or if the Sheriff or other law enforcement can show up and physically remove you immediately or not. An attorney can give you that information though and there may also be something you can file at this time that would prolong the timeframe due to Covid, but I cannot advise you in this area. Another thing you may want to ask the attorney about though would be the credit issue. I don't see how that could possibly affect your credit because you are not being evicted by a landlord and the lender cannot report to a credit bureau any negative credit item about you. You did not sign any binding agreements with the lender and there is no failed credit agreement to report. I suppose if you did something that would create a legal item and a judgement is filed against you because of your actions for which a court finds you liable, that could be reflected on your credit. But I would ask the attorney if just being evicted from a family members home on which you were not on the legal title at the time the home went through foreclosure in any way affects your credit.

Hello Robin, Your mom's estate or the heirs (depending on if title has changed from mom to the heirs yet) owns the home. You should check with an estate attorney to determine if the property will need to go through probation and see what provisions mom made for transfer of ownership upon her passing (did she have a trust, a will, etc.). Once the property is fully in the name of the heirs (you and your siblings) the reverse mortgage will need to be repaid as it is now due and payable. This means that the 3 of you will need to discuss and determine the terms of the sale of the property interests. Using just your numbers (and I am sure there will be costs and this will need to be updated but this is good for now), there is approximately $65,000 equity in the home. If you were all to sell the home, you would have selling costs of approximately $8,750 - $14,000 (unless you did a for sale by owner) so you might want to think about using something like $60,000 as the number to split 3 ways for the equity position to account for costs. In that way, your siblings get a little break for their financing and you don't have to pay a portion of any sales costs but that's just a suggestion - not advice. You all need to do what is right for the 3 of you. One third of $60,000 is $20,000 and that would be what they would need to pay you to buy out your interest in the home. This could be done at the time they refinanced the home, with cash they had available to them, with a loan from you to them or literally any way the three of you agreed upon. The only way you will know for sure what the actual 1/3rd distributions of the equity total are to see what the appraisal from the lender comes in at on the home and the total costs to pay off the existing loan. And I know you are all family but if there is any possibility of disagreement of amounts or terms, you may wish to have an attorney or other third-party act as an arbitrator in the transaction so that it does not become a wedge between you and your siblings. If they are using a loan, they can use the same title/escrow to pay you and record all the necessary Deeds for transfer of ownership to the two of them.

Hello Kathryn, The loan is now due and payable since there are no original borrowers still living in the property. There are agreed upon rights for the borrower and their heirs in the loan documents. You have the right to pay the loan off and keep the home, sell the home, or let the lender take the property back and owe nothing. The reverse mortgage does not grant the right to heirs to make payments on the existing loan though. You do have options, but the time is not unlimited to act. You can sell the property and pay off the loan that way. You can choose to keep the home, but then you would need to refinance the loan with a new loan in yours and your husband's name if you do not have the cash available to repay the loan with your own cash. You cannot assume the existing reverse mortgage or just make payments on it, there are no payments on that loan, and it is not assumable. If you wish to keep the home and stay there, it sounds like you need to decide for a new loan as quickly as possible. If you are not sure how to handle the trust and any possible probate issues, I would suggest that you contact an estate attorney immediately. Perhaps you could use the same attorney your in-laws used to create the trust if you do not have an attorney of your own. The lender just wants to know that you are working toward the repayment of the loan and may be willing to give you a little extra time once you can show them that you have a loan started and the title is in the process of changing. Also, as soon as you are working on the title issues, you can simultaneously be working with a lender to place your new financing. If you do not believe your income or credit will make you eligible for financing at this time, you need to see if there are any other options within the family for the financing or consider placing the home on the market for sale. The last thing you want to do is wait until the home goes through foreclosure because at that time all your options are gone.

Hello Lorene, I cannot advise you on the rules about insurance purchases and since you left out a word in your question I can only assume you are asking if you can purchase the policy on another individual (i.e. mom or dad?). That would be a question for an insurance agent as I do not know the laws regarding who can and cannot buy insurance on other individuals. However, I can tell you that I have had a borrower in the past who told me that he had worked out a plan with his insurance agent for exactly that type of situation. Keep in mind though that this was the borrower buying the insurance and not a third party though. I would refer you to your insurance agent and it might also take the participation of the insured, but it is best to research while everyone is healthy!

Hello Debbi,The only thing the lender can do is follow the law. If the son is not willing to do anything at all, you could approach the probate court and if you have anything that would allow them to grant ownership to you then the lender would follow the legal change of ownership. Otherwise, if the son does not do anything to sell the home or repay the loan, the lender would foreclose and sell the home on the market. Perhaps you could work out some arrangement with the son if you do not believe you have any documents or anything that would hold up in court?

Hello Wendy, I am afraid I cannot tell you what "legal rights" you have under New Jersey laws. I can answer any questions you have about the reverse mortgage and your rights as the heir regarding the loan, but I cannot give you legal advice. I am surprised though that you have waited for 2 years and until the lender contacted you to inquire about the property if you are the rightful and only heir? The lender often has no idea who the heir with claim to the title will be. Lenders cannot make the determination as to whom they will work when the owner of a property passes and usually must wait until the new owner contacts them with the legal paperwork to solidify their claim to title. This may be from a probate action, a trust certification or other means, but the lender is not the one to determine the heirship to the home. That is up to the heirs to establish and to communicate to the lienholder (the lender). In all honesty, if you have never taken any steps to notify the lender of your ownership of the home or taken the steps to transfer the title, I am surprised you were contacted at all and the property didn't just go through foreclosure without you ever being notified. That may be an additional requirement in New Jersey, I cannot say. My suggestion to you at this time would be to contact an attorney who specializes in foreclosures in New Jersey to determine what rights you have at this time. You will probably need to have the foreclosure delayed in order to have enough time to complete a change of title and he/she will know if this is possible and if so, what steps would have to be taken to complete the stay of foreclosure. You also need to know that the loan is due and payable currently. Even if you can get the foreclosure delayed, you need to be able to pay the loan off right away or it will continue again very soon. You can do this with money available to you or with another loan. If you do not have the funds available to pay off the loan and do not believe you can qualify for another loan to refinance the existing loan, getting a delay in the foreclosure would not be of any benefit unless you believe the home is worth more than the amount owed and you can sell it quickly enough to make the delay profitable on a sale. I suggest that you not delay. It sounds like your children have already been through the home and taken anything of value (and what they didn't take, thieves may have) but if the home does go through a foreclosure action, the home will be emptied and the contents disposed of pursuant to New Jersey laws so you would have no chance to retain anything of your mom's. These are all things you can discuss with your attorney since he/she will need to know what your intentions are so that he/she can adequately advise you on all matters.

Hello Benancio, From your description, I am assuming that your brother's home was purchased by someone who bid against the lender at the foreclosure auction and became the highest bidder at the auction. Is that correct? I make this assumption because the lender or lienholder only bids what is owed to them and that is the opening bid. If no one bids higher, the lender or lienholder in a Trustee's Sale then wins the auction and becomes the owner of the property. However, if someone or others bid higher than the lienholder, the lender or lienholder will not increase their bid and the new owner will be the party who is the highest bidder and the lienholder will be paid in full of the proceeds of the sale. Any amount paid above and beyond what is owed to the lienholder belongs to the owner of the property. Since your brother has passed, if he had no other heirs, you may be entitled to the remaining funds. I am sorry, I do not know the exact process for others to reclaim any remaining funds. My only advice would be to contact an attorney who handles such matters but the ones contacting you may also be attorneys specializing in just this sort of matter. Also, are they offering their services to you at a percentage of the amount recovered or at a flat fee? The reason I ask is because unless there are multiple bidders to drive the price up, the sale would stop with the first bidder who bid higher than the lender who had foreclosed and there may not be much money available. If you do not want to check with an attorney, perhaps a title company can help you? They may be able to check public records anyway and see what the amount of the foreclosure was that was filed and then also the tax stamps to see what the file sale price was to see what kind of money you are talking about anyway and they may be able to tell you how to contact the state to claim the funds.

Hello Randolph, Your mom decides who does what with the property in her will or trust and you all proceed accordingly. The lender has a loan on the property, they don't own it. Therefore, hopefully mom has directions by way of a will or trust that will determine which heir will act as her executor and what the disposition of the property will be. The loan will be due and payable at that time so whatever the heirs decide to do with the property (keep it or sell it), they will have to keep in mind that the loan will be due and plan accordingly. This means that if you are the one tasked with the final disposition of the property, you could choose to sell the home or keep it. If you sell the home, all equity in the property belongs to the estate and you should probably speak to an estate attorney to determine the best way to divide the proceeds.I may be incorrectly presuming that there are other heirs, I just saw that you used the term "an heir" and not "the heir" so if I am wrong, even if you are the sole heir, I don't think it's a bad idea to discuss options with a professional. Either way though, you will need to pass the title from mom to you so that you can sell it and that could also include a probate. If mom is fully competent now and the property is not in a trust, you may want to visit with an estate attorney now to determine if this is a good way for you to proceed, before mom can no longer sign legal documents. I cannot give you legal advice, but I can advise you to seek out the assistance of a good estate attorney who can before the time comes because I know from first-hand experience and from speaking to many families that it is much easier to do things while mom is still alive and able to communicate her wishes than waiting until later when people are grieving and then it takes legal proceedings to accomplish title changes, etc. and you are then working against a ticking clock as that loan is due. Knowing the plans also takes out any possible family disagreements, especially caused when parents pass without leaving written instructions and no clear path to achieve the plan.

Hello Shannon, It's very difficult for me to advise you based on the limited information you have supplied. The reverse mortgage company can only deal with verified heirs though so I can only ask what steps you took to sell the home? Was there a will? Was the property in a trust? Did it have to go through probate? Like the lenders for all loans, the reverse mortgage company cannot supply information to any third party without the proper authorization and if your mom did not provide that authorization to the company while she was still living, then you must be sure to follow the proper legal steps to sell the home. The reverse mortgage lender will not make the determination as to who can and cannot act on behalf of the estate, there are legal steps for this, and you must follow those steps. I do not know what you have done or what your state requires, but I would suggest you contact an attorney if you have not already done so and you have not taken the legal steps to clear the title. The problem you may have is that the title company and the lender cannot act to allow the closing without the legal cover to know you have the right to sell the property in the first place. That may take a court action to complete. Without knowing if there are other heirs that could have a claim, if there are other creditors, etc., the lender and the settlement provider will not proceed with a closing. An estate attorney in your area will know exactly what you need to do to proceed with the transaction.

Hello Jami,The seller is playing a dangerous game. He's hiding the fact that the owner has passed and may be falsifying occupancy certifications to the lender (they go out annually and it's hard to say for sure, but chances are that one has gone out since the owner passed unless the timing was such that it went out just before the owner passed and it hasn't been a year yet). If he has not been truthful and the lender discovers this, they will be much less likely to delay before initiating foreclosure proceedings. Furthermore, if he collected additional draws on the loan after the borrower passed by supplying the lender false information, the lender could choose to act on that. If the heir simply has not said anything and has not sent any untrue information to the lender, chances are if the lender discovers the passing of the borrower they will just call the loan and the heir might just have a little more incentive to close the sale with no real consequences. But he is accruing interest on the loan this entire time even if he hasn't done anything to take additional funds. Have you seen a monthly statement? You may want to be sure there is enough equity in the home.

Hello Anne, I am not sure which articles you are referencing, but I don't think we have ever stated or implied that the process would happen extremely quickly. There are several things that the lender must do before they can accept your property by way of a Deed in Lieu of foreclosure. I don't know when you first contacted them, but if mom passed away 2 months ago, they typically don't talk to the family for 30 days or more after that so I can't see this having been a terribly long time at this point. The lender must contact an appraiser and have an appraisal conducted on the property. I know you have indicated that you are willing to sign the Deed in Lieu, but they must know the value as well as make sure the that home is at a minimum "broom clean" with no more personal belongings in the home. They must also have a title company perform the title work to be sure there are no other liens on the property. If the lender accepts a home that is full of a borrower's personal property or has other liens on the home, they incur liability with those issues. If they must go through a full foreclosure, they are protected by law under the foreclosure laws and can complete the foreclosure, have any personal effects removed and it would be up to any other lienholders to either protect their interest or subordinate liens would be removed with the foreclosure. The lender/servicer does not even know if they have any of these issues usually in the first 30 -60 days and it takes a while to get the title, appraisal and all other items required together. When you compare a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure time frame to a foreclosure though, the lender must do the same appraisals, title searches, etc. but does not have the additional 150 -180 days that a foreclosure would take so the timeframe is usually much quicker. I can't tell you exactly how long it will take because the timing is different in different areas and depending on different circumstances. If the property is completely empty and if it is broom clean with no other liens, the lender can still only move as quickly as the service providers for appraisal, title and other services need for their end of the transaction. If everything comes together without delay, it should not be a protracted process. If things pop up on title or if there are no appraisers available, etc, the timeframes will be delayed and that delay will depend on when everything can be obtained, if at all. In some cases, a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure can never be accepted because of secondary liens that have been placed on the home subsequent to the reverse mortgage. About the servicer not getting back to you, that I cannot understand. Novad is HUD's servicer. Once you supplied the necessary documents to them to show that you have full authority to speak on behalf of the borrower, they certainly should be working with you as if you were the borrower yourself. Have they asked for any additional information or indicated in any way that the documents you sent to them are insufficient? I don't know if Novad would be any quicker if you retain an attorney, but an attorney may be better at determining their needs and supplying them with missing information, but that is entirely up to you. If Novad has everything, there should not be any delays above and beyond the time needed to get everything they need to accept the Deed in Lieu. I wish I could be of more assistance with why they are not communicating but I really have no idea at this point what is preventing that communication.

Hello Jeannettea, The loan never just passes on to someone else after the borrower permanently leaves the property, whether because of death or because they move to an assisted living facility. When you were added as a person eligible to speak on behalf of your mom about the loan, that just means that you have authorization the lender needs to discuss the loan with someone other than the borrower. Because of financial privacy laws, reverse mortgage lenders cannot divulge personal information or discuss a loan with a third party, even a son or daughter, without consent of the borrower or a court order. You have that consent but that does not help you about the loan now. The loan is now due and payable with mom no longer living in the property. Under the terms of the reverse mortgage, as the heir. You can sell the home, refinance the loan with a new loan in your name or pay off the loan with other funds available to you. If the amount owed on the reverse mortgage is more than the current value of the home, you can pay off the balance for 95% of the current value instead of the full amount owed. If you do not wish to refinance or sell the home, you also have the right to walk away from the property and owe nothing, regardless of how much is owed and what the value is. My suggestion is to first decide what you want to do and what you can do. If you want to keep the home but don't feel as though you could get a new loan to refinance the balance of the reverse mortgage, you need to find out how much equity is in the home (if any) and take steps to protect that equity. Contact a real estate professional in your area and determine the most probable selling price of the property. Compare that to your mom's most recent statement to determine whether there is equity in the home. You need to make sure the property title is in your name if you intend to sell it. If you are not on title, you cannot sell the home or get a new loan on it so as soon as you determine that there is enough equity to get a new loan or to sell, you need to work quickly to obtain title to the property. If you are getting a new loan, then you would show the lender that you have taken those steps and they should be willing to work with you to complete your financing. If you are selling the home, again, once they see that you have taken the steps to clear the title and have listed the home for sale, they will work with you to allow you to complete the sale and can give you extensions as necessary. The one thing you don't want to do is just wait until they decide you are not making any efforts to repay the obligation and place the property into foreclosure. The more proactive you are, the better your chances of retaining some equity in the home.